It was a crazy January

I'm back.
January was hectic and full !!!
1.  Two friends came for our third annual New Year's retreat.  We sewed in the new year.

2.  I finished the first of my family quilts.  The top was complete, the back was ready, so when my niece selected this one, I went for it.  She was home from WA state so I finished it and was able to give it to her in person.  We had to mail it later since she was already at the limit for luggage on the plane.

One down!  Some of the tops not selected by family and that I didn't want
to finish, I donated to the charity division of my guilds.  It was a win, win, win.
I reduced by stack, the guild got finished tops, and one top was auctioned
at the meeting for a cash donation to the guild.  Another win - that person has
a queen size top ready to quilt.  I gave another top that was pinned and ready to
quilt to a friend to finish.  It's her's to do with as she wants - donate, keep, gift.

3.  I finished my En Provence top and was folding it up to put on the stack then stopped myself.  Remember:  Finish it and get it out of the house.  I pieced backing and started the quilting.  It's ready to be bound then it goes on the bed!  The first bed size quilt I've finished for me.

4.  A friend was unable to attend Road to CA so I took her place.  The class was not something I would have selected for myself, so rather than start a new project, another friend prepped the fabric and I made blocks for her.  The class was a lot of fun and I learned some new techniques, but I'm happy I don't have another project in process.  And yes, by the time all the bills came in, the "free" class was very expensive.  However, I'm now in the mind set to attend Road next year.  We're looking for a hotel that can house 5 of us together.

5.  I took two sessions of training for my Babylock Destiny machine.  My dealer has great follow up classes and they are free to customers who purchase the machine from his shop.  It was good to go back and hear some of the basics, but I loved the day of IQ designing.  I took his ideas and created Valentine Day cards for my great nieces and nephews.  They go in the mail tomorrow.  Two are headed to Australia.  Of course they won't make it in time, but they're used to me being late.  They're getting their Christmas ornament in this mailing as well.  I think that family would all fall down in disbelief if I had a package to them BEFORE the holiday!

Finished Valentine Day "cards".  Approx 5.5 x 5.5 inches.
I loved that I had all the supplies on hand to make these.

To cut down on hand work, I treated it like a pillow top for the backing.
Finished the raw edges, overlapped, and sewed around the outside eidge.
Turned, inserted extra batting, and top stitiched the edge.
When I quilted around the heart it basically closed the opening.

I stitched them out two at a time.  All done in the hoop.  The background is quilted
with cross-hatching.  It just doesn't show in any of the photos.  The IQ Designer
was the reason I purchased the Destiny.  I get excited when I acutally use it

6.  I did a demo at my guild of different ways to make half-square triangles.  I started with making paper templates (I never actually did this, but in the dark ages of quilting it was how it was done!) and moved to adding 7/8 inch and cutting along the diagonal.  I also included paper piecing, Bloc Loc rulers, and my favorite Dragonfly Triangle Marker.  The only source I know for the last item is Wendy Mathson, quiltsbywendy.com.

In between all of this was Soroptimist meetings, choir, church 50th Anniversary celebration weekend, 4 guild meetings, and life.  I purchased a new refrigerator.  Mine was acting up and I'd been closly watching it since November.  The sales were good so I researched and made my decision.  After a lot of reading online and at the library, I was so confused I almost gave up.  Decision:  LG French door.

Thanks for checking in.